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Georgia Legislature would get say on Medicaid expansion

Morris News Service – updated Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - 11:33pm

ATLANTA – Gov. Nathan Deal or whoever comes after him would no longer have sole authority to expand the eligibility of Medicaid under legislation approved Monday by the state House.

Voting along party lines 118-57, lawmakers approved House Bill 990 by Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones, the second-highest-ranking member of the House. It would require the General Assembly to vote on eligibility changes, specifically the offer of the federal government under the Affordable Care Act to pay 100 percent of the new costs for the first three years and 90 percent afterward.

Jones said 10 percent of a large number is still a large number when the cost to the state of Medicaid is already rising $500 million per year.

She argued that governors should not have the ability to obligate the state to such a large expenditure on their own.

House Republican Caucus Chairman Matt Ramsey said the Legislature has the responsibility to balance the budget, not the governor.